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Land grab ploy out of Zanu-PF election
manual

The Telegraph

By David BlairLast Updated: 2:31am BST
08/04/2008

Robert Mugabe's response to his apparent defeat
in the first round of Zimbabwe's presidential poll springs directly from the
unofficial manual of electioneering pioneered by Zanu-PF.

To guarantee his survival, Mr Mugabe will now rob the whites, beat the
blacks and rig the rules in his favour. These methods saved him from
oblivion after he lost a referendum in February 2000. Everything indicates
that Mr Mugabe is now resorting to them once again.

Robbing the
whites is well under way. The white farmers have been reduced to a rump of
about 200, almost all of whom own only portions of their previous
land.

This last handful has now been singled out, with organised
invasions overwhelming at least 20 farms. The aim is to offer white-owned
land as a reward for supporting Mr Mugabe.

But all Zimbabweans
know that the land grab was largely completed five years ago. In 2000,
Zimbabwe had about 4,000 white farmers. By 2003, that total had fallen to
its present level.

So Mr Mugabe is now trying a new propaganda
line. He claims that unless he stays in power, white farmers will return and
reclaim their property, evicting any blacks who were settled on their
land.

"There have been widespread reports of white former farmers
flocking back into the country," claimed The Herald, a state newspaper,
yesterday.

Mr Mugabe has urged Zimbabweans to "safeguard their
land" and said: "The land is ours, it must not be allowed to slip back into
the hands of whites."

Reinforcing this battle-cry are the
veterans of the war against white rule, who led the first farm invasions in
2000. They will be used to assault, torture, rape or murder any blacks who
oppose Mr Mugabe, in accordance with the second chapter of Zanu-PF's
manual.

As for rigging the vote, the law requires that Mr Mugabe
must face the election's second round by April 19. He may decide that he
needs more time.

Fortunately, under the Presidential Powers Act,
passed as a "temporary measure" in 1986, he can amend any law at will. He
may employ this device to delay a second round for weeks or months.

Zimbabwe's white farmers in land-grab battle

The Telegraph

By
David Blair, Diplomatic Editor, in Johannesburg

Last Updated: 1:47am BST 08/04/2008

Zimbabwe's last white farmers were "preparing for the worst"
yesterday as their leader predicted that they would all be forced to leave their
properties by President Robert Mugabe's latest land invasion.

The height of the land grab campaign in 2000. Gangs of ‘war veterans’
loyal to Robert Mugabe seized hundreds of white-owned farms – a tactic to which
they have returned this week

Chanting gangs of veterans of the war against white rule have
occupied at least 27 farms since Saturday, with about 12 falling victim
yesterday morning alone. Only about 200 white farmers are left in Zimbabwe -
five per cent of the total eight years ago.

"We are preparing for the
worst," said Trevor Gifford, president of the once powerful Commercial Farmers'
Union (CFU).

One white farmer, who declined to be named, was tipped off that
squatters were about to overrun his property. He gathered his wife, their three
children, aged seven, nine and 11, and his elderly parents and left
immediately.

His homestead was duly invaded on Sunday. Trembling with
emotion, the farmer said: "I have wondered what this day would be like, whether
it would come after all these years. Now I am wondering if this is it, or if I
will be able to get back."

The farmer survived the land invasions of 2000 and the official
seizure of white-owned properties that began in earnest in 2002.

However, Mr Mugabe's apparent defeat in the first round of
Zimbabwe's presidential poll may have led to his dispossession. To extend his
28-year rule, the president is fanning racial tensions and holding out
Zimbabwe's last acres of white-owned land as a vote-winner in the election
run-off that must take place by April 19.

"I have been so lucky to last this long, and I don't know why I
did," said the farmer. "I have just grown the best crop of my life."

He produced about 500 acres of soya beans this summer, half of
which was due to be harvested right now.

The invasions began on Saturday in Masvingo province, about 160
miles south of the capital, Harare. Five farmers were forced to flee or were
trapped inside their homes by drunken mobs. A game lodge was also seized.

Then the occupations spread to Centenery, once Zimbabwe's
agricultural heartland where the guerrilla war against white rule began 36 years
ago.

More invasions have also taken place in Shamva district, north
of Harare.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change has appealed to
the High Court to order the authorities to announce the results of the
presidential poll. Yesterday, a judge heard its case and postponed a ruling
until today.

Meanwhile, Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party has denounced the electoral
commission and threatened to purge its leading members.

Didymus Mutasa, Zanu-PF's hard-line administration secretary,
called the running of the election the "worst" he had ever known. In a sign that
the regime was trying to further undermine the validity of the election results,
police arrested seven election officials last night, charging them with
under-counting votes cast for Mr Mugabe.

Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC's presidential candidate, arrived in
South Africa yesterday. But he will not meet President Thabo Mbeki, who is
visiting India.

The stated aim of Mr Mbeki's "quiet diplomacy" towards Zimbabwe
was to secure an undisputed election.

Instead, for possibly the first time in electoral history, this
presidential poll is being disputed by both contenders before its official
results have even been
released.

Senator tells: Why the fight is still ahead for
Zimbabweans

Crikey, Australia

Tuesday, 8 April 2008

Interview by Thomas
Hunter:

David Coltart is a senator with the
Zimbabwean opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change. He was first
elected to office in 2000, before which he worked as a human rights lawyer. He
spoke to Crikey from Zimbabwe late yesterday.

Following Mugabe's corruption of the first vote, if Zimbabweans are asked
to vote again, are they more or less likely to vote for him?

I don’t think that we know the answer to that question. I think that people
will vote in a fashion consistent with the first round. People are at the ends
of their tethers. They are desperate for Mugabe to go. I think the risk for
Mugabe is that people may vote even more strongly against him this time.

What’s the mood on the street in Zimbabwe at the moment? Is it one of hope
or of despair?

There’s an underlying spirit of despair because of the economy, because of
the sense that this man will do anything to retain power. But there is also
hope. Despite the rigging we’ve got control of the House of Assembly. We’ve
shared the seats in the Senate, and, really, all we need to do now is guard this
resolve and win the presidential vote. There is certainly no sense of jubilation
in the streets. Life is so tough that people know this is going to be a battle
royal. But underlying that, I think that there’s quiet determination and hope,
but it’s not spilling out onto the street.

Given the very immediate problems faced by Zimbabweans voters, where does
Mugabe’s support come from? Who votes for him?

If you analyse the results, you’ll find that he got virtually all of his
support from the rural areas, about four or five of the ten provinces. He lost
dismally in the two urban provinces of Harare and Bulawayo, and the two south
western provinces. But his support is mostly in those rural provinces where he
has handed out a lot of land. More importantly, he controls the flow of
information to those areas. He has been successful in conveying to people in
those areas that, while there is economic collapse, that collapse is due to
western sanctions which have been brought by the Opposition. And finally, he
also controls the flow of food to those areas. They know that if they vote
against him he won’t supply any more food to them. So it’s through a combination
of controlling the information and food that people continue to vote for him.

If a second vote is called, how hard will Mr Mugabe fight to hold onto
power? History would suggest he’s not going to be merciful in the pursuit that
goal.

In the past he’s used virtually any means to stay in power and there is no
indication that he is going to change. The negative signs here are that he has
called out war veterans and sent them straight to Harare. He’s said that he
wants a recount of 16 seats, which is absolutely absurd given the amount of
rigging Zanu PF has employed in the past. Accusing the Opposition of tampering
with results is absurd. Also, we’ve seen some of his lieutenants say that they
only put 25% effort into the last election and they are now going to “unleash
the remaining 75%”, and we all know what that means.

But on the positive, Mugabe is 84 and has been humiliated already just by
losing this round. He does have a divided party and he may well come up against
a united Opposition. He was 7% down in the vote last time round, which is a
considerable amount to make up. In fact, not just 7%. If those who voted for
[Zanu PF candidate Simba] Makoni, the third contestant in the presidential
election, now vote for Tsvangirai, Mugabe has a deficit of 15% to make up. The
only way Mugabe can win the election is if he literally tears up the rule book,
uses violence, and declares himself the winner; he will have no legitimacy left.
In those circumstances, he will even find that the Southern African Development
Community will baulk at endorsing the result.

Comments

Tony Papafilis

Tuesday, 8 April 2008 2:41:24 PM

Perhaps if the western lefties bleating about Mugabe now had taken an
interest a few years, even 5 years ago, rather than denouncing voices of concern
back then as right wing racists, matters may not have got so far out of hand. I
still do not hear condemnation for the farm collectivisation that destroyed a
functioning agricultural sector feeding millions of Zimbabweans or is that still
OK because it was based on correct ideology?

Keith Bales

Tuesday, 8 April 2008 2:05:07 PM

Then pity is that with all the millions being spoent on M15, the CIA, Mossad
and all then othersd that The West didn't shoot this prick? We should move the
"toothless" UN in NOW to sort this arsehole out! How much longer do these
innocebtpeople have to suffer?

Rebuilding shattered Zimbabwe not a task for the faint
hearted

Dispatch, SA

2008/04/08

INSIGHT

Eliphas
Mukonoweshuro

DESPITE President Robert Mugabe’s diversions and
smokescreens, his defeat is final. Polling stations show that Zimbabwe’s
Movement for Democratic Change won last Saturday’s presidential and
parliamentary elections. Should the dictator and his minions attempt to deny
this truth, injustice may win a minor victory. But it has already lost the
war.

So let us take a moment to consider what the new government’s agenda
would be if and when it takes office.

Many factors have already
emerged. For one, there has been an overwhelming rejection of Mugabe and his
Zanu- PF party, not only in the major urban centres but also in the
country’s rural constituencies, which used to provide the basis of Mugabe’s
support. Now they have abandoned him, even those in his heartland of
Mashonaland.

It’s clear that the entire electorate demands a transparent
and accountable administration.

Another factor is the dire state that
Zimbabwe is in and the monumental task that lies ahead.

With an
economy destroyed, a social infrastructure decimated and a national spirit
utterly exhausted, managing expectations becomes perhaps the biggest
challenge.

There are no easy answers, yet neither are these
insurmountable problems. Zimbabwe is showing that it has the capacity to
remove a cancerous regime, peacefully and democratically, and that alone
gives courage to all of us who are charged with shepherding its re-emergence
among the nations.

But how might success be achieved?

Most
importantly, the new government would bring the return of the rule of law.
The judiciary will once again be free of the dead hand of the state. Justice
will be at the core of the new Zimbabwe.

This does not mean opening the
door for recrimination and victimisation. No-one will be singled out for
vilification. Law and justice will prevail.

Mugabe himself would face no
special legal tribunal sponsored specifically by the new government. He will
simply be required to follow the law of the land like anyone
else.

No-one will be dispossessed of his or her land.

Instead, all
Zimbabweans will be given a stake in our abundant natural resources. There
are no white farmers, nor black farmers, only Zimbabweans. Breaking the
racist stereotypes upon which Mugabe has built his incendiary policies will
be one of the most significant tasks in order to set the country on a course
of modernity and growth.

Economically, we reach out to the world to help
us to take this journey out of the darkness of our pariah status. We
encourage foreign investment, especially in sectors such as mining and
energy.

We propose to reprise Zimbabwe’s role as the breadbasket of
southern Africa by putting to use fallow fields laid to waste by Mugabe’s
supporters and cronies.

A programme of public works, driven to some
degree by international investment, will restore the all but dissolved
infrastructure of the economy and provide work for those millions of
Zimbabweans who have no jobs or who have fled overseas in search of
employment.

This we propose to do sustainably and responsibly. Zimbabwe
will be no playground for rapacious investors seeking to destroy and pillage
before moving on to the next target and opportunity.

Industries need
not be nationalised. We are in favour of an all-inclusive, market-driven
approach. As a social democratic government, we would be mindful of our
workers’ roots in unionism and of the need to gather all Zimbabweans to the
task of restoring our broken country.

We stand today at the dawn of a new
day in Zimbabwe and perhaps in Africa. The end of the Mugabe era is like the
lifting of a decades-long burden from the shoulders of each and every
Zimbabwean.

The pain we have endured is immense, the sacrifices
heroic.

The coming months and years will remain challenging.

It is
likely and regrettable that many will be asked to bear yet more pain, carry
more burdens, wait longer.

But rebuilt it will be. Zimbabwe will thrive
again in the wake of the inevitable demise of Robert Mugabe.

But it
will be a task for all hands and strong hearts.

Eliphas Mukonoweshuro
is the MDC’s International Affairs Secretary and newly elected MP for Gutu
South, Zimbabwe

Police raid ZEC offices

Zimbabwe Metro

By Margaret Mutyambizi and
Nkosilathi Ncube ⋅ April 6, 2008

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is
under siege. Suspected members from Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO)
raided the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s provincial offices in Plumtree,
Mutare and Masvingo. All results and paperwork relating to the presidential,
parliamentary and senatorial elections was confisticated.The raids at
Plumtree were carried out on Sunday evening,while in Masvingo on Friday,it
is unclear when the raid in Mutare was executed.

It is reported that the
Zanu-PF party has become suspicious of the electoral body. ZANU PF secretary
for administration Didymus Mutasa has since accused ZEC of rigging elections
in favour of MDC.

The announcement of the presidential election results
has been delayed for a week and ZANU PF has since endorsed Robert Mugabe as
the Zanu-PF candidate for a run-off election.

The news comes amid
reports that a presidential run-off committee which comprises central bank
chief Gideon Gono, Mugabe’s spokesman George Charamba, ZANU-PF national
commissar Elliot Manyika, trained secret service operative and ZANU-PF
legislator Saviour Kasukuwere and a top army general has been set
up.

On Friday night Manyika held a meeting with the leaders of the war
veterans and collaborators for “serious briefing” on how Mugabe’s campaign
will be handled.

“The groundwork is being laid as we speak. You can
not rule out coercion and violence,” said the source, who is among senior
politburo members who failed to convince Mugabe at last Friday’s politburo
meeting to negotiate a safe exit with Tsvangirai.It is understood the
committee’s terms of reference are to raise money for Mugabe during what
would be an intense three weeks of campaigning ahead of the presidential
run-off.

Despite being suspended from ZANU-PF, war veterans leader
Jabulani Sibanda has been re-called to lead the campaign in rural areas and
is using the ZANU-PF headquarters in Harare as the war veterans’ command
centre.

Some war veterans have already been given Chinese-made pick up
trucks and have been cited in rural provinces to prepare the groundwork for
what could turn out to be another violent campaign.

Reports on Sunday
said war veterans and militant ZANU PF youths had begun seizing some of the
few remaining white-owned farms, especially in parts of the southern
Masvingo province.

Three cattle ranchers said they were forced off their
land on Saturday while a fourth farmer was on Sunday reportedly still
holding out, with about 50 militants threatening to break down his farm
gates.

Comments

a.. d by Maggie | April 6, 2008, 7:03 pma.. ah
vatotanga so!

Posted by lindy | April 6, 2008, 7:29 pma.. Forcing
himself on the same population he is supposed to work for and report to, is
tantamount to rape.Where is democracy here?Mugabe,whatever his name is
should realise that Zimbabwe is not his personal property and the will of
the people should be respected and will prevail.What an evil man.I wait for
the day when he and his cronoies will be held accountable for their
sins

Posted by Jimo | April 6, 2008, 7:33 pma.. This
situation seems to be getting worse by the minute. Many of us in the U.S.
are on edge - what will happen next? We are praying for all of
you!

Posted by Bear | April 6, 2008, 8:44 pma.. enough is enough
we are tired of Mugabe’s anarchy zimbabwe needs a new ideology and party now
28 years is enough, it just goes to show that he realises his faults and now
he is afriad of the fact that the president and party will prosecute him and
his cronies. ZANUPF move aside it is time for a Movement for Democratic
Change.

Posted by sindi | April 6, 2008, 11:06 pma.. mugabe
akutoita se pwere.vakuru ava dei vambo edzawo to act his age.does he not see
and realise that the people havachade.pesoas are tired of him.why not just
bloody vacate the state house.or maybe the old man does not have a house in
which to leave.let him say so then we build him one.but just leave and
go.outa Mugabe

Posted by musvetu | April 6, 2008, 11:27 pma..
zimbabweis no longer have any democracy.TheUNITED NATIONS MUST INTERFERE
RIGHT NOW AND TAKE THAT OLD MAN TO THE ICJ WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT.TSVANGIRAI
MUST BE CLEVER BECAUSE HE CAN BE ASSASINATED VERY SOON.I DON’T WANT TO TALK
MUCH. THANK YOU

Posted by villa | April 6, 2008, 11:35 pma..
Ndashaya neremuromo nemaActions aBaba Chatunga. surely l dont believe kuti
white farmers are coming back to the farms if so why is it ZBC is just
talking and not showing any photos like they always do.zimbabwe this is
another way to get people to vote for them pare-run, zimbabwe dont be fooled
this guy is out.he has been raping us for the past 28yrs its time for him to
go.

As for Morgan what is it that we are hearing pathose shit
news.You want a government of national unity with zanu unechokwadi here
iweMorgan.we dont want these guys next our new government.dont worry about
re-run coz its concluded already zanu is dead.

Surely a week no
results what is it with zimbabwe,all the other leaders vakatonga pamwe
nababa chatunga vakasiya zvigari long back but ava vakuru hameno chokwadi
mwari ndiye anoziva.thot my vote will make me change my mind and stay in zim
but heyi guess pamberi nemaSAQA

Posted by h
mpofu | April 6, 2008, 11:55 pma.. Nhai iwe Villa you say zimbabwe nolonger
have democracy as if we once had it,baba zvedemocracy totomirira mwari our
vote failed to bring democracy.Zanu being rigged this is a joke of the
year.

Posted by GUSHT | April 6, 2008, 11:58 pma.. Mugabe
wachembera why can’t u step down you are running the country like a
tuckshop.God is watching.

Posted by Netsai | April 7, 2008, 12:11
ama.. Mugabe wants to furstarate us. There is clearly no democracy in Zim.
Why does he want to be that cruesl. Please EU, UN and SADC intervene into
this country. We are suffering in the hands of a tyranny

Posted
by CALL FO INTERNATIONAL INTERVENTION | April 7, 2008, 12:11 ama.. when ppl
vote they have the right to their results,we need a new president,28yrs is
not a joke..all these raids are a sign of defeat,the last thing we need is
violence,we need peace and we need sum1 who will restucture the economy…so
lets have those presidential results,if there is a rerun let it be done in
peace whoever wins would have won

Posted by sexy chrissy | April 7,
2008, 12:17 ama.. what i dont seem to understand is why there are talks of
re-counts and runoffs when we dont even have the results? Does it mean
mateacher akatadza kuverenga mavotes akanyora zvisirizvo pamav11 forms? Saka
anogona kuverenga wacho asina kupfuura nemumaoko e those same teachers
ndiyani? Someone, anyone enlighten me.

Posted by bootilicious |
April 7, 2008, 12:34 ama.. Oh I am smelling a rat here. I am sorry to say
this. Things are not looking good. I dont want to sound pessimistic but as
things stand now we are yet to see the real Mugabe.The truth of the matter
is that Mugabe has been routed by Morgan.Morgan has secured the required
50%+ of the vote.If there is a run off why is it that the results are not
forthcoming.I would like to believe that there are disagreements within the
ZEC as some are loyal to ZANU while others are sympathetic to MDC. There
must be a serious rift within ZEC. You must bear with ZEC because they have
been infiltrated by known assailants.Why did Matonga visit the Command
Centre?The truth of the matter is that they want to ‘recount’ the
presidential ballots and play with figures to necessitate a run off but as
things stand now Mugabe has been defeated.However, i am quite aware that
most civil servants want a run off because they are certain to pocket more
money from the run off.But the sad story is that the economy will further
slump to the lowest as a result of this run off. Where to my beloved
Zimbabwe? Cry my beloved country. Why only you among so many nations? What
wrong have you done to deserve this? Did you kill Jesus?God do you have any
special place for your children in Zimbabwe? Some are even preaching that
the world is coming to an end but what do preachers in America, Asia,
Australia,Europe and some parts of Africa say? Zimbabweans are suffering?
Almighty, in thy hands i place Zimbabwe.It is finnished.

Posted by TANABE | April 7, 2008, 3:06
ama.. Varume yambiro yakanaka… musazobata magetsi muchiziva moto unouraya
usapukute meso nemaoko abva mukubata mhiripiri….. Enough is enough guys… its
time for a change.I dont think South Africa would want to let the 2010 go to
australia, Zambia has already started streamlining Zimbabweans, Mozambique
now has AU troops to safeguard its border and is willing to shut down and
Botswana and South Africa are prepared to off load Zimbabweans back home.Ko
iyo run off inogotanga kutaurwa ma official results acho asati avepo sei? Do
you think if it was a ZANU (PF) victory it coulf have taken this long….All i
know is God appoints leaders and its about time he Intervenes in Zimbabwe…
vakatadzeiko ma Zimba? Mwari pindirai vana venyu vari kuchema zvamunoonawo
imi mega.PINDIRAI tumirai GRASIYA inyaradze nyika
yanyura….

Posted by zvazviri musharukwa | April 7, 2008, 4:09 ama..
now the CIO has confiscated voting material, how are we to trust that
material for a recount? life down here is hard. we are in big trouble. we
are not war like people, we are too peaceful, may the UN come bail us out
before these people drive us to war.

Posted by pasi nezanupf |
April 7, 2008, 5:51 ama.. guys lets face reality here, ana baba chatunga
wont leave office peacefully, we have to fight for our democratic right, we
have the right to choose, n morgan is the man, now what kana waba ma
votes,what are we gonna do…guys ini ndamama ne zanupf yema hure iyi, n sick
n tired of it, can we plan ahead, n case plan a fails what is plan b. one
thing for reall is that zanu lost the elections but the wont leave office,
zvevarungu inhema dzoga idzo, hatisi vana ve grade, even wakadzoka tinebasa
rei nazvo what we want is mugabe out of office fulstop. what next.food
for thought.

Posted by Wezhira Tichakunda | April 7, 2008, 6:18
ama.. Why are you guys now growing cold feet,let the games
begin.

Zanu PF here we come, we ll trounce this guy even more.DOnt gaze
in awe at your opponent but prepare to fight back. And get some good
facts.

Matebeleland registered on average 30% voter turnout, now all
united MDC efforts should be to get at least 50% turn there & maintain
previous % elsewehere and out of zimbabwe goes evil Mugabe, thats it. The
same is true for most urban voter turnout, just increase a bit.Rural areas
already have exhausted their turnout, it was their best.

The ruling
Zanu-PF party definitely lost the March 29 elections, while President Robert
Mugabe was thoroughly thrashed by opposition Movement for Democratic Change
leasder, Morgan Tsvangirai. The delay in announcing the election results
confirms it.

Having worked in the Civil Service in Zimbabwe and having
taken part in the election processes that were being run under the aegis of
the much maligned and discredited Tobaiwa Mudede, I find it inconceivable
that the newly constituted Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is coming up
with flimsy excuses to justify their utter failure to announce the victor in
the Presidential elections.

The real reason why the results have not
been released is to enable Mugabe and his party to explore alternatives,
specifically to increase the number of votes that he received in the just
ended elections. Forget the mantra about Morgan Tsvangirai failing to attain
the 50 percent plus 1 majority that would curtail the need for a run-off.
Forget everything that Zanu-PF is saying to the contrary, such as the absurd
claims that MDC bribed election officials. Even die hard Zanu-PF people talk
openly about Mugabe having comprehensively lost to Tsvangirai.

As I
write members of the top echelons of ZEC are more or less under house arrest
as they are not allowed to leave the cosy confines of their hotel which also
doubles up as the collation centre and are literally under CIO guard
24/7.

I find it absurd that Utoile Saigwana, a former education officer
in the Army Education Corps, with little or negligible experience in running
elections, has the audacity and temerity to attribute the delay to the
difficult terrain that they have to access to get the results from the
various polling stations in the country, citing as an example Binga
District. What I find difficult to understand is why they were previously
able to get the results from these same areas without any trouble when the
elections were in favour of Mugabe?

It beggars belief that Saigwana
could tell such a white lie when he is fully aware that this statement
cannot withstand any scrutiny and that there are people in ZEC who know that
this is patently untrue. He would have saved himself from ridicule by asking
Japhet R Murenje, ZEC’s Director of Polling Logistics and Ignatius
Mushangwe, the Director of Training who between them, have run several
elections in their former capacities as Provincial Registrars for
Mashonaland East and Masvingo Provinces respectively. In those ancient
times, elections were not transported to district centres, but were counted
at the polling stations and results relayed to the district and provincial
centres, either by telephone or radio.

The then PTC would commandeer
telephone lines from other establishments to the district and provincial
centres that were dubbed “hotlines” as they could not be used to make any
telephone calls to other numbers. Where there no were telephones, results
were transmitted to the various centres through DDF and ZRP radio systems.
In this day and age of mobile phone technology and with Zimbabwe being
touted as one of the fastest growing markets for mobile phones in
Sub-Saharan Africa, it would be treasonous to let Saigwana and Lovemore
Sekeramayi (formerly Deputy Registrar General) get away with such lame
excuses.

The CMED would also commandeer all government vehicles and hire
others from parastatals for use during the elections and these were at the
disposal of logistics teams, whose remit was to move around the polling
stations in a constituency collecting results and taking them to the nearest
centre where there was a telephone.

Zimbabweans know that the reason
why the election results are being held up is to enable Mugabe to prevent
the winner of those elections from winning an outright majority. They also
know that the people who have been running the election machinery are the
same despite the change of name.

They also need to know that the National
Collation Centre is the same as the National Elections Directorate (National
Command Centre) that is staffed by Mariyawanda Nzuwa, the Chairman of the
Public Service Commission, Tobaiwa Mudede, Defence Forces Commander,
Costantine Chiwenga and his Chief of Staff, Major-General Martin Chedondo,
Air Force Chief, Perence Shiri, Police Chief, Augustine Chihuri, the
Secretary of Local Government, Patson Mbiriri and his two deputies, Killian
Mupingo, in charge of Local Authorities and Fanuel Mukwaira, in charge of
Traditional Leaders, (chiefs and headmen), Secretary of Home Affairs,
November Melusi Mtshiya, CIO Director General, Happyton Bonyongwe, Fortune
Zengeni, the Officer Commanding Support Unit, and Godwin Matanga as well as
the ZEC senior staffers (Chiweshe, Saigwana, Murenje and Mushangwe) and a
host of other senior staffers from the President’s Office.

The public
should also know that the intimate and minute details of the elections are
discussed by a cabal of military officers without the knowledge of the
civilian staff as the current sidelining of Murenje and Mushangwe attests
to. This same structure is replicated at the provincial and district levels,
with provincial and district administrators chairing them, although during
the 2002 presidential elections, this situation was tenuous as the CIO and
the military, with the tacit approval of the highest office in the land,
were flexing their muscles and I am told that any civilian staff that remain
in the election machinery is only for window dressing purposes as real power
rests with the CIO and the military staff seconded to these
committees.

I would imagine that by now the provincial and district
structures have been disbanded and that the staff that would have been
seconded to the elections has since returned to their normal places of work,
leaving only a skeleton staff to wind up the process.

I can testify
that late on Sunday I was informed by one of these officials that Mugabe had
been beaten by Tsvangirai by 57,8 percent of the poll to 39,9 percent. Armed
with these results Chiwenga, Chihuri, Bonyongwe, Shiri and Paradzai Zimondi
of prisons then approached Mugabe at State House. Mugabe, in a state of
shock, sent them back to Chiweshe to ask him to reverse the result. Chiweshe
told them he was bound by his professional ethics as a lawyer and could not
reverse the election result. They pleaded with him to try his best to save
the situation. Chiweshe tried his best – the results of the presidential
election have not been announced since then - for a week.

I
participated in three elections in Zimbabwe in various capacities and to the
best of my knowledge results are always relayed, first to the district
centres which in turn forwarded them to the provincial centres for onward
transmission to the national command centre.In those days, there was no
mobile phone coverage in most parts of the country, yet results were always
religiously announced by Mudede on ZTV throughout the night without fail and
we would almost always know the winner of the elections within 18 to 24
hours of the close of polling.

The current prolonged delay in announcing
the election results is a clear testament that Robert Mugabe lost the
lections and that Zanu PF is using this window to strategize. Witness how,
its foot soldiers, the war vets were hastily commandeered to march in the
streets of Harare without any hindrance from the police, immediately before
the Politburo meeting on Friday. They were commanded by Jabulani Sibanda who
apparently was recently allocated a beautiful house in Borrowdale and a
four-by-four vehicle. The march itself is an ominous precursor of the
intimidation that is going to be brought to bear on the courageous people of
Zimbabwe for having had the valour to vote for change.

Zimbabweans
are now confronted by, perhaps, a first in the world, a situation where a
defeated incumbent refuses to accept defeat and insists on presiding and
crafting his way back into power through the back door.

I saw, first hand
how the whole state machinery was rolled out in full and brute force to
subdue the will of the people and cajole as well as coax them to vote for
Mugabe. After the near defeat of Zanu-PF in the 2000 parliamentary
elections, a new department was created in the Ministry of Local Government,
the department for Traditional Leadership (Chiefs and Headmen) and this
became the basis of enlisting the village headmen and chiefs’ services to
work for Zanu-PF. In an instant, village headmen became salaried officers of
Rural District Councils and in the presidential elections, were required to
ensure that their “subjects” voted for Mugabe.

They were made to queue
according to villages and were called into polling booths to vote according
to villages. It is likely that Zanu-PF is going to revert to this same
method in its bid to remain in office. Part of the 2002 strategy was also to
attach a war veteran to each village who was meant to act as their
chaperone. Local government administration was rolled back to the early
1980s when hoards of war veterans were employed as Local Government
Promotion Officers, a meaningless job whose real purpose was the propagation
of Zanu-PF ideas and propaganda, albeit at no cost to the party, as their
salaries were met by the state. Post the 2000 referendum, soldiers and war
veterans were hired to act as Administrative Officers although in real
essence, they were and still are Zanu PF commissars.

Mutasa was quoted in
the local and international press last week as saying that Zanu-PF would be
challenging results of 16 constituencies because the MDC had allegedly
bribed ZEC officials.

This is a blatant lie. There is such thorough
vetting (by both the ZRP and CIO to ascertain where their political
loyalties lie) of all people who are engaged, especially at constituency
registrar level. Zanu-PF actually sits in the planning meetings through
their Provincial Chairman, Provincial Women’s League Chairwoman, Youth Chair
and this is replicated at the district level with the District Coordinating
Committee Chairman sitting in the planning meetings. I know of several
people whose appointments to the role of either Constituency Registrar or
Senior Polling Officer were vetoed by Zanu-PF officials and in the rare
occasions that they would have made it to the next level, by the Governor as
he had the final say.

I simply cannot imagine that anyone would slip
through the net especially now, given the militarization of the civil
service and how everything has to be run through the President’s office,
even in districts and provinces.

Furthermore, such appointments are made
at the provincial level and with the tight security that exists in polling
centres and constituency offices; I doubt that anyone would endanger their
life by tampering with the figures as Mutasa would glibly want us to
believe. In my experiences, I found it was always the other way round, as
figures tended to be inflated in the presence of members of the National
Elections Directorate led by Mariyawanda Nzuwa. The modus operandi was that
if there were fears that a Zanu-PF candidate was at risk of losing an
election, these chiefs would land in their helicopter and frighten the hell
out of the polling officers who would just watch as the deed was
done.

Nzuwa, by virtue of being the Public Service Commission chairman,
could make or break a career and many a career was broken during elections
and conversely others made it to the top, thanks to toeing the line. He
instilled fear in any civil servant and his word carried the day. The
presence of military officers in full military regalia did not help
matters.

In the 2000 parliamentary elections, Dr Sydney Sekeramayi won
against Didimus Munhenzva of the MDC courtesy of this method. He had lost
the election and was declared the winner by a margin of only 10 votes. As
for the 2002 Presidential elections, handichatauri (I need not go into
detail). The same situation is repeating itself, especially with the results
that have been announced in parliamentary elections in Uzumba and Maramba.
Jerry Gotora, he of the Campfire and Local Government Association fame hails
from there and unless he has recently retired, was the Council Chairman of
UMP Rural District Council. Need I say more?

Now that there is likely
to be a run-off, the MDC should be extra vigilant to the spectre of ghost
voters. In the referendum elections of 12/13 February 2000, I was aware of
many Zimbabweans who were already in exile but were said to have voted.
Impeccable sources have told me that there already is a team trawling though
the records to ensure that there is a large number of “Diaspora votes” for
Mugabe.

“Your Governor””, Gideon Gono and the holder of the Western Union
franchise in Zimbabwe, are said to be critical players in this plan as they
are allegedly playing an integral role in the remittance industry. Gono has
a vested interest in the outcome of this election, specifically the possible
departure of Mugabe as he has amassed enormous wealth beyond anyone’s
wildest dreams.

His interests are predominantly in the lucrative
horticultural sector. Of all of Zimbabwe’s economic sectors this sector
enjoys the most favourable benefits from the foreign currency retention
policy. I need not explain that the author of these economic and monetary
policies is, of course, none other than “Your Governor”.

Is there
conflict of interest here? The foreign currency retention policy is hugely
skewed in favour of the horticultural industry because Gono owns a swathe of
farms that transcend both Mashonaland East along Shamva Road, Chabwido Farm
in the Enterprise area and in Bromley next to Surrey Farm). He also owns the
magnificent Kintyre Estates along the Bulawayo Road, just before the Norton
turn-off. He subsided this vast estate and let out sections to fellow
indigenous entrepreneurs and friends.

He continues to export
horticultural produce to the EU through some unscrupulous middlemen who are
resident in the UK and the Netherlands in clear breach of the EU trade
policies with members of the Zanu-PF regime. Gono knows that he stands to
lose everything should, as expected; an MDC government come to power. He
would rather, work strenuously hard for the maintenance of the status quo,
hence his decision to play a role in the Diaspora vote. Zw
Times

Posted by Bob Mboko | April 7, 2008, 12:50 pma.. Our time
has come to rule. No matter what Bob does, we shall not give in unless
tsvangson is in the statehouse. After all, how many stupid warvets are
behind Bob? Its a handful losers. The real warvets are with us. They know
that they did not fight to starve, fail to educate their kids
etc.

Demolishing Zimbabwe's education system teacher by
teacher

With the inflation rate at 100,000%, educators simply can't
afford to teach. They are fleeing to take menial, but better-paying jobs --
leaving students behind.From a Times Staff WriterApril 8,
2008

Mufakose, Zimbabwe

The first to go was the English
teacher. Six months later, the commerce teacher followed. The next year,
2005, the trickle turned into an exodus. By 2007, the departures from
Mufakose 3 High School were like bricks in a collapsing building: math,
science, accounting and many other teachers, all leaving their careers
behind to work as cleaners, shop assistants, laborers in other
countries.

Zimbabwe's education system, once the best in Africa, is
being demolished teacher by teacher.

Some of the teachers at Mufakose
3, outside the capital, Harare, called in sick and were never seen at the
school again. Others didn't bother to call and just
disappeared.

"You'd come to school and someone's not there and next thing
you hear, he's gone," said Knox Sonopai, 43, a history teacher at Mufakose
3.

In 2007, 25,000 teachers fled the country, according to the
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe. In the first two months of this
year, 8,000 more disappeared. A staggering 150,000 teaching vacancies can't
be filled. The Education Ministry sends out high school graduates with no
degree or experience to do the job.

In a country where the official
inflation rate is 100,000%, teachers simply can't afford to
teach.

Before last month's national elections, teachers went on strike to
protest salaries of 500 million Zimbabwean dollars a month -- about $10.
Their salaries went up 700% to end the strike (paid, perhaps not
coincidentally, just before the vote) but the raise is being gobbled by
hyperinflation.

"One hundred percent of teachers have resigned, mentally,
even though they remain in schools," said the teachers union president,
Takavafira Zhou. "They're no longer interested in teaching. They're just
looking for somewhere to go.

"The education system is a vital hub of
the country. It has a ripple effect. In the long term, the country will
suffer very much."

Francis, a teacher at neighboring Mufakose 1 High
School who declined to give his last name for fear of dismissal, said 60 of
110 teachers there left last year.

"Every holiday we lose more
teachers," he said.

Last October, history teacher Sonopai and a
colleague, Clever Mudadi, 33, gambled their lives crossing the
crocodile-infested Limpopo River into South Africa. They tried to get work
as teachers but ended up as laborers digging foundations for about $15 a
week. In the end, humiliated by the work, they turned around and went
home.

"It was bad," Mudadi said. "We lost a lot of weight. We felt hurt.
I can't describe it."

"We never expected to do that kind of work, but
we had to do it," Sonopai said. "We had no option. We were
stranded."

Mudadi, whose first name, Clever, seems to have shaped him
from birth to be a teacher, has a young, boyish face and pauses thoughtfully
before putting anything into words. Sonopai's face is long and mournful. He
is the more talkative of the two.

They're men with calm, cautious
voices and soft hands used to chalk dust, not spades and blisters and days
of toil. When the pair talk about their South African adventure, they seem
almost pained by the memories. There are soft sighs. They stare vacantly.
Teachers used to be some of the most respected people in Zimbabwean
communities, but now "you are the laughingstock of the community," said
primary school teacher Richard Tshuma, 35.

"When you are going to the
shops because it is payday for teachers, people laugh at you and say it's
better to be a street vendor selling vegetables. You'll make more
money."

At rallies before the elections, which saw the ruling ZANU-PF
party lose its parliamentary majority for the first time in 28 years of
power, President Robert Mugabe made a point of giving out computers to teach
children computer literacy.

At Mufakose 1 High School, 10 new
computers were donated last year by the government. But only one is still
working, and students never get to touch it. It's been taken over by school
office workers for typing letters.

In most schools, computers are a
dream. Even textbooks are so scarce that 35 children must share one,
according to the teachers union. Children sit crammed 80 to a classroom,
sometimes on the floor.

At Mufakose 3, schoolboy Bernard Tinashe stared
straight ahead with dreamy eyes as he painted a 10-year-old's vision of
someone in a white coat curing the dying and the sick. He recited his hopes
and dreams in a singsong classroom voice, as if learned by
rote.

When
there aren't enough teachers or there's a strike (a frequent occurrence
these days), children are sent home or spend the day outside
playing.

"School's boring," Bernard said, "because there are no teachers
and we don't learn anything. You just sit and read books but the teachers
are not there. Sometimes we are just sitting on the ground or sitting
waiting for our parents to come and get us and then we'll go
home."

He said some of the children were mischievously delighted when
classes were canceled, but not him: "It makes me feel unhappy. I'll never
get to be educated. I'll never get to be a doctor. I'm not
learning."

With education standards plummeting, the pass rate for the
high school exams called the O-levels fell from about 70% in the mid-1990s
to 13% last year.

The higher education system is equally troubled,
starving Zimbabwe's hospitals of doctors and the mining sector of engineers.
Zimbabwe's mining sector, the country's last significant source of exports,
needs 1,100 skilled specialists.

"The technical institutions have
been smashed," said Tony Hawkins, an independent economist. "We can't
regenerate our own skills.

"There are these myths about Zimbabwe having
this highly educated workforce. Well, we did, but they have all gone. The
second myth is that they will come back with a change of government. But the
more skilled you are, the less likely you are to return."

Catherine
Mangwaira, 31, of Mufakose despairs for the future of her 14-year-old
daughter, Privilege, a bright child who wants to be a flight attendant. It's
a dream Privilege feels slipping through her fingers.

Sandra Chiramba, 13, is so shy that she can barely whisper her
hopes. She wriggled and looked away in an agony of embarrassment. She has
trouble articulating her fears of how a poor education is ruining her
future.

"I'm worried," was all she could whisper. There was a long,
painful silence. And suddenly her tears spilled, too many to catch on her
fingertips.

War veterans turn on Mugabe

Harare -
A faction of Zimbabwean war veterans broke ranks on Monday and demanded that
"tyrant" President Robert Mugabe be sent packing.

They also
demanded that MPs and senators - who were announced as winners in the past
week - should be sworn in immediately to oversee the possible presidential
rerun.

The Zimbabwe Liberation Veterans Forum, which claims to
represent 60 percent of the "genuine" war veterans of "the third phase of
chimurenga", has also attacked the Zanu-PF aligned War Veterans
Association.

Secretary of the forum's board of trustees, Wilfred
Mhanda, told reporters on Monday that they were ready to "side with the
people of Zimbabwe, the MDC, civil society and all progressive forces"
against Mugabe.

"We are determined to send
the tyrants packing, like their predecessors, to the dustbin of history
where they belong... The people of Zimbabwe have overwhelmingly delivered a
resounding no to Robert Mugabe's tyranny. And who is Robert Mugabe to impose
his will against the voice of the people of Zimbabwe?" asked
Mhanda.

He said it was high time that SADC and the African Union
leaders raised their voices in "support of the popular will of the people of
Zimbabwe".

"The ball is entirely in their court and they cannot
escape the responsibility of any consequences arising from the
constitutional crisis through their inaction. Zimbabwe is not Mugabe's farm
over which he holds the title deeds, nor did he single-handedly liberate
this country," said Mhanda.

He attacked Zanu-PF for talking
about a presidential runoff without the results 10 days after voters went to
the polls.

"Should the election results point to a rerun of the
presidential election, we demand that members of parliament and the senate
be sworn in immediately to oversee the rerun, as the House of Assembly will
have the casting vote in the event of a tie in the outcome. Furthermore, the
rerun should be conducted within 21 days of the date of the election as
stipulated in the Electoral Act," said Mhanda.

He sharply
criticised the other faction of war veterans, whose leader, Jabulani
Sibanda, has been threatening to "defend Zimbabwe's sovereignty" against
enemies of Mugabe.

"We note with concern the strange and discordant
noises coming from paid state agents and rogue elements purporting to be
speaking on behalf of the former liberation war fighters.

These
sycophantic and misguided political misfits have no statutory role in
Zimbabwe and no say whatsoever in the conduct of the elections."

Sibanda could not be reached for comment on Monday.

But Mhanda
called on "the people to remain calm, vigilant and steadfast in defence of
their vote and their sovereign right to choose the leaders
democratically".

Bernard Manyadza, the forum's board treasurer,
said they represented former senior commanders of Zanla and Zipra, former
military wings of Zanu and rival Zapu.

Militant ruling party
supporters invaded at least 23 white-owned farms on Monday, a day after
Mugabe urged Zimbabweans to defend seized land, fanning fears he would stage
a violent crackdown to retain power.

Invasions that began on Sunday
worsened on Monday. Intruders entered at least 23 farms in southern Masvingo
province and northern Centenary, said Trevor Gifford, president of the
Commercial Farmers Union.

"In Masvingo where the police have been
very co-operative, every time they remove invaders, within five, six hours
they're reinvading," he told The Associated Press.

"It's very
apparent that this is being co-ordinated from higher up the chain of
command."

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who claims to have won the
March 29 election outright, was in South Africa yesterday where he
apparently met Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi, who is a member of
President Thabo Mbeki's negotiating team on Zimbabwe.

Tsvangirai's party was cagey about the visit, refusing to explain its
purpose and only confirming that the opposition was holding private
meetings.

"He is attending private meetings and going back this
evening," Roy Bennett, an MDC spokesperson, said.

There were
also unconfirmed reports that he had a meeting with ANC President Jacob
Zuma.

Tsvangirai's visit comes as a Harare court postponed until
Tuesday his party's legal bid to force the official declaration of the poll
results.

Meanwhile, some 200 exiled Zimbabweans gathered outside
the government offices in central Pretoria demanding the immediate release
of the results.

"We want an urgent release of the election results.
We cannot wait any longer," said Simon Mudekwa, head of the anti-Mugabe
Zimbabwe Revolutionary Movement.

SA's foreign ministry said it
was not aware of any official engagements lined up for
Tsvangirai.

President Thabo Mbeki is on his way to India after
attending a weekend summit in Britain where he described the situation in
Zimbabwe as "manageable".

This article was originally
published on page 1 of Cape Times on April 08, 2008

Invasion not the answer to Zimbabwe
quandary

Business Day

08 April 2008

Karima
Brown

DURING
last year’s Group of Eight summit in Germany, I had a fierce argument with a
fellow hack from Zimbabwe, who was unsurprisingly fed up with President
Thabo Mbeki’s quiet diplomacy approach towards the political and economic
crises in his country.

To cut a long story short, while I agreed
Mbeki’s approach had definite shortcomings and that he should be criticised
for it, I also argued that fundamental change in Zimbabwe had to be driven
by Zimbabweans if there was to be long- term stability.

So what
is to be done in Zimbabwe now? Sending in troops is not the answer. My point
to my Zimbabwean colleague — that SA could not “liberate” Zimbabwe from
Mugabe by sending in troops — still stands, no matter the sabre-rattling
coming from Harare in the aftermath of Mugabe’s electoral defeat. Saddling
up and invading another sovereign country George Bush-style would result
only in greater tragedy, not least for SA. While many Zimbabweans want
change, foreign troops, even if they are from Africa, are not going to be a
welcome sight on the streets of Harare or Bulawayo. And considering how long
it took Mbeki to convince his Southern African Development Community (SADC)
counterparts that the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is a legitimate
political entity, the possibility of sending in a SADC peace-keeping force
will simply not fly.

Moreover, the Zimbabwean army — however weakened
and divided it may be — is not the Lesotho Defence Force. The conditions in
Zimbabwe are very different and sending in troops could well lead to an
escalation of the crises. Interestingly, the MDC has also put out feelers to
sections of the military, which explains in part why there have not been
more overt efforts to orchestrate a coup from the side of the armed forces
in Zimbabwe.

Those who are calling for tougher action need to take
their cue from forces actually doing battle with the Mugabe regime. While I
support strong action against Mugabe, sending troops to that country, even
under the auspices of SADC, is not the answer. These elections have been
terribly flawed, but they have yielded important gains that needs to be
expanded. These small victories opened space that now needs to be defended,
with solid organisation on the part of all Zimbabweans who are opposed to
Mugabe’s continued rule.

It is instructive that the MDC continued
to participate in the elections even though there was rigging. The
conditions were far from ideal, but they gave it their best shot and beat
Zanu (PF) at its own game. That is an important victory for a party that had
to go up against a 28-year-old political institution. The MDC did not throw
out the proverbial baby with the bath water.

Its decision to
challenge Mugabe in court, despite the shortcomings of the judicial system,
points to important nuances in the political landscape there. Those in the
judiciary who can now see the inevitability of change will have the
opportunity to use the law to accelerate change for the better. In reality
the MDC did not only contest the elections, it is also beginning to occupy
the political space that has opened up as a result of recent
reforms.

Of course, threats by Mugabe diehards should not be
underestimated. They pose a real danger to the democratic gains. But talk of
sending troops to Zimbabwe will surely play into Mugabe’s hands and only
undermine the moral and political high ground of the opposition. The MDC and
civil society must be strengthened on the ground. Building democracy in
postcolonial Africa was always going to be a tough task that involved
grassroots mobilisation and solid organisation across all sections of civil
society.

This mobilising offensive against Mugabe needs to go beyond
just elections. It means building broad-front politics and alliances around
a minimum programme, with the first order of business being Mugabe’s defeat
in the election runoff. It might not be as dramatic as sending in the
troops, but it will yield a higher dividend in the long
term.

This is a time for strong action

Zimbabwe Metro

By Morgan Tsvangirai ⋅
April 7, 2008Once again, Robert Mugabe and his cronies are attempting to
maintain their grip on power in Zimbabwe. While disheartening, this act of
political thuggery does not diminish the victory of democracy over
dictatorship in a country ravaged by misrule and ignorance. Ultimately, this
is a victory for the strong hearts and sturdy backs that have carried us
here: a victory for all Zimbabweans.

But democracy is an orphan in
Zimbabwe. Since the infamous universal declaration of independence in 1965
made by the white government of Ian Smith in what was then Rhodesia - in an
effort to block the extension of suffrage to the country’s black majority -
the cry of democracy has been ignored. Mugabe’s 28-year rule has similarly
undermined the development of institutional democracy.

Adept at
stealing elections from the hands of voters, Mugabe is now amassing
government troops; blocking court proceedings where we have attempted to
seek an order simply for the electoral commission to release the final tally
of the March 29 poll; raiding the offices of the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC); and casting a pall of suppression and gloom over the country.
The feared militias, made up of misguided activists and the same war
veterans who pushed for and benefited from the disastrous land confiscations
from the late 1990s, are being mobilised. This can only mean, despite some
earlier evidence to the contrary, that sanity has been discarded along with
truth in the offices of Zanu-PF.

The parliamentary majority the MDC
has already attained has clearly been replicated in the presidential
results. The MDC has tracked every polling station and recorded the results
as they are released, and we can guarantee that Zanu-PF and Mugabe have met
their demise in the face of Zimbabwean democracy. As official results will
confirm when at last released, a mooted presidential run-off (initiated if
no individual reaches a 50% threshold) is a sham. Our country is on a
razor’s edge.

How can global leaders espouse the values of democracy, yet
when they are being challenged fail to open their mouths? Why is it that a
supposed “war on terror” ignores the very real terror of broken minds and
mangled bodies that lie along the trail left by Mugabe?

This is a
time for strong action. We urge the International Monetary Fund, at its
meeting this week, to withhold the £1bn of aid to Zimbabwe unless the
defeated ex-president accepts the election results in full and hands over
the reins of power. This is also the time for firm diplomacy. Major powers
here, such as South Africa, the US and Britain, must act to remove the
white-knuckle grip of Mugabe’s suicidal reign and oblige him and his minions
to retire.

We have assured Mugabe that the new government will not
pursue him legally through government offices. The work ahead is monumental
and we need no further self-made distractions. Recrimination is not on the
new government’s job list. Our agenda is to restore the rule of law and good
governance; to face up to our dire health problems, including an HIV-Aids
epidemic; to reconstruct our once cutting-edge education system; to bring
our abundant farmlands back into health; to tackle rampant inflation and
over 70% unemployment; to encourage foreign investment and public works
spending; to depoliticise our security services; to stamp out corruption and
graft. Every day the new government is denied, these problems each get
worse.

The new leadership is committed to nurturing democracy in Zimbabwe
and to begin rebuilding our shattered country. It is time to make a
stand.

· Morgan Tsvangirai is president of the Movement for Democratic
Change

From King to Mugabe

Wall Street Journal

GLOBAL VIEW By BRET
STEPHENS

April 8, 2008;In
1986, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst awarded Robert Mugabe an
honorary degree. This was several years after Zimbabwe's anticolonialist
"liberator" had deployed his notorious Fifth Brigade – trained by his North
Korean allies – to murder an estimated 20,000 members of the Ndebele people.
Mr. Mugabe is tribally Shona.

Mr. Mugabe's accolades from Western
intelligentsia – he also received honorary doctorates from Michigan State in
1990 and the University of Edinburgh in 1984 – are worth recalling as
Americans memorialize the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s
assassination. Morally, philosophically and politically, King and Mr. Mugabe
stand at opposite ends of a spectrum, the former a champion of liberalism's
best convictions, the latter of the totalitarian impulse inherent in the
politics of "liberation." So how is it that so many of the same people –
liberals, "progressives," the bien pensant – who see themselves as heirs of
King's legacy were, until fairly recently, Mr. Mugabe's fellow travelers,
excuse-makers and apologists-in-crime?

I used to have a simple answer
to this question: In conflating the rights of the individual with those of
the collective, liberals were guilty of what logicians call the fallacy of
composition: the notion that what is true of a part must also be true of the
whole. In American politics, this goes back at least to Woodrow Wilson, and
his fixation with "national self-determination" – the view that individual
freedom was contingent on group freedom, which in turn required ethnic or
cultural homogeneity, political sovereignty and the mechanisms of state to
control both.

There is an element of truth in that view, and an element
of falsehood. There is also a considerable margin for abuse, particularly
when recognition of the differences between nations slides into a posture of
moral and cultural relativism.

"Clearly, human rights and the rule of
law have to continue to be central in the bedrock of our relationships but
we have to understand the local context," said then Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright during a meeting with Mr. Mugabe in 1997. "We have to
realize the difference in these countries and the various evolutions they
are going through and it is only appropriate that the United States, while
pressing our agenda, respect the agendas in these countries." At the time,
Mr. Mugabe had just ordered a bloody crackdown on a demonstration and beaten
up Morgan Tsvangirai, the apparent winner of the recent presidential
election.

Still, this explanation goes only so far in explaining the
left's long love affair with various "liberators" – if no longer with Mr.
Mugabe himself (Edinburgh revoked his degree last year, while UMass formally
"rebuked" him), then, at various times in various places, with Che Guevara
and Yasser Arafat and Marwan Barghouti. Could it be a function of guilt,
specifically white guilt?

After Mr. Mugabe began seizing white
farmland in the early part of this decade, Matthew Sweet of London's
Independent offered the view that the Zimbabwean dictator could hardly be
blamed for the looming disaster. "It was [Cecil] Rhodes who originated the
racist 'land grabs' to which Zimbabwe's current miseries can ultimately be
traced," wrote Mr. Sweet.

Rhodes, the founder of Rhodesia, died in 1902.
Invoking his name as the source of Zimbabwe's woes a century later has the
quality of invoking original sin, albeit one from which Mr. Mugabe is
somehow exempt.

There's no doubting that Rhodes was a racist, and that
Zimbabwe's whites were long the beneficiaries of the order he established.
But simply because a complaint is not without merit does not justify a
campaign that is without merit, and one that guarantees ruin for its
ostensible beneficiaries. This is obvious. So why were people like Mr. Sweet
so quick to excuse, if not quite to advocate, Mr. Mugabe's politics of
ruin?

Maybe the question is better put this way: Why is it that
"progressivism" seems so prone to nihilism? Friedrich Nietzsche, who knew
something about nihilism, had an answer: "Man," as he famously concluded in
his Genealogy of Morals, "would rather will nothingness than not will."
Ultimate freedom, complete liberation, demands that man overthrow every
constraint, or what Nietzsche called "a revolt against the most fundamental
preconditions of life itself" – including life itself. In this scheme,
nature and the natural order of things become subordinate to the mere act of
willing. This is the essence of totalitarianism, a political order that
recognizes no higher authority, no limits and no decencies.

Which
brings us back to Martin Luther King Jr. In his 1958 essay "My Pilgrimage to
Nonviolence," King described his encounter with, and rejection of, Marxism.
"Since for the Communist there is no divine government," he wrote, "no
absolute moral order, there are no fixed, immutable principles; consequently
almost anything – force, violence, murder, lying – is a justifiable means to
the 'millennial' end. . . . I am convinced now, as I was then, that man is
an end because he is a child of God."

Unlike some of his counterparts in
the civil rights movement, King not only accepted the American political
system, he demanded it. He did not seek racial retribution: "Our aim must
never be to defeat or humiliate the white man, but to win his friendship and
understanding," he said in 1965. "We must come to see that the end we seek
is a society at peace with itself." His political genius, like that of the
Founders, was to lead a revolution in the name of restoration – the
restoration of God's given order for all men, irrespective of
race.

There is a final ironic contrast here between King and Mr. Mugabe.
Though a political nihilist, Mr. Mugabe, at 84, clings almost impressively
to what remains of his power, and his life. On the day before his murder at
age 39, King was a man at peace. "I'm not worried about anything. I'm not
fearing any man," he said. He was liberated. Mugabe, the "liberator," is
not.